Three years ago today, we in the European Union waved goodbye to the United Kingdom.
Well, except that it wasn’t really that final.
Here in the Republic of Ireland, we have the unenviable benefit of sharing a land border with the UK state.
Yes, our continental colleagues could bid them a final adieu.
However, it will be a later chapter in Ireland’s story before we can finally say to our ex-colonial masters, slán abhaille!
It would be nonsensical to deny that Brexit was a boon for those of us here who Think 32.
Such a bigger own goal by political unionism is hard to imagine.
I just wish I knew what the Ulstur Scatch was for go raibh míle maith agaibh!
In the Six Counties, Brexit put Partition back on the agenda for many who had accepted the post-1998 rapprochement as something that would last for generations.
Now a Border Poll on the constitutional future of Northern Ireland seems highly likely within the next decade.
The Belfast Agreement, an international treaty lodged at the United Nations, clearly shows how this will happen.
That’s the thing with agreements between sovereign states.
Viewers in Scotland have their own programme.
Three years ago today in London, they had a party that they were finally free of the shackles of Europe.
Yet, the oppression was all in their heads.
I have written since the Brexit vote that the decision to leave the European Union would be a “slow-moving Suez Crisis”.
The British economy is currently the worst performing in the G7.
Of course, the other six also had to deal with the Covid19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine is similarly an epochal event that impacts all major economies.
This anniversary comes just one day after an American general said that the British Army is no longer a “Tier One” outfit.
This led to some injured bluster in London.
Ah, the denial is strong in this one…
Like the Ibrox klanbase, British militarists do not like to be reminded of the long-term decline of the UK on the global stage.
In the Post-Suez dispensation, many in Britain took pride in the putative excellence of their armed forces.
Some of them even quietly sneered at the American defeat in Vietnam and opined that the British would have prevailed against the Vietcong.
It was a smart move by Prime Minister Harold Wilson to keep the UK out of that war.
Britain undoubtedly got all of its war aims in the Malvinas conflict in 1982.
In the immediate aftermath, it certainly gave a huge fillip to the Thatcher government.
A quarter of a century after the humiliation of Suez, it reassured imperialist Brits that, in some ways, Britannia could still rule a portion of the waves.
The reality is that even such a limited conflict like the Malvinas war would not have been successfully prosecuted without the full approval and support of the USA.
For someone born in 1946 after daddy came home from the war, they were at the midpoint of their three score and ten when Port Stanley was liberated.
That same person was 70 during the year of the Brexit vote.
For many of that generation of Brits, “take back control” was a heady brew of imperial nostalgia and a longing for a falsely remembered arcadian landscape when England was a green and pleasantly all-white land.
That fabled Blighty also had stirring tales of derring-do where Tommy Atkins, plucky and decent, prevailed over morally inferior foreigners.
It is a testament to the power of myth that people can block out inconvenient facts.
In this century, the British Army have been defeated in the two major campaigns they participated in.
Frank Ledwidge was an officer in Iraq and a senior civilian advisor in Afghanistan.
Anyone who still believes in British military competence in the 21st century should read this whistle-blowing book.
The chap who ordered the tanks to cross the Belarussian border last February was a big fan of Brexit.
Some even think that the star turn of KGB black ops during the Cold War had quietly assisted the Leave effort.
He might even have allowed himself a plausibly deniable smile three years ago today in the Kremlin as the Brexiteer Brits cheered for Nigel Farage.
Full disclosure, this Republican in Dún na nGall was also cheering!
Brexit has undoubtedly shrunk the EU.
However, the state that left is out in the cold and undeniably diminished by the decision they took in 2016 and finally became a reality three years ago today.
In delivering the Brexit deal, the Rt Hon Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson MP played a blinder.
Indeed it was in keeping with the best traditions of Perfidious Albion.
However, this time the duplicitousness was delivered to the Home Front.
Just ask the DUP.
Rejoice!
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Evil comes in many forms not least in the stupidity of our leaders like Biden, Trump, Putin, Sturgeon, Boris, Trudeau and the rest. These are dangerous times for humanity.
The SNP’s obsession with the gender issue to the detriment of the everything else should tell us what to expect in an independent country.
In Canada, Vancouver’s legalisation of hard drugs is to go ahead despite the lesson of the tragic situation in Portland and others. NY is a toilet given their leaders are nothing short of insane.
The people who invested in China as opposed to their own country have led us all down a dark path and I remember their leader declaring “no trade then war”.
After the Russian revolution Stalin, unlike Trotksy insisted that they build up Russia first as a testament to the glories of Socialism/Communism rather than continue the bloodshed throughout Europe. Sadly 20 million Russians paid with their lives and now Putin is trying to restore some glory and is equally brutal. All for what?
For the same reason Castro decided to stay within their borders while Guevara wished to spread the message throughout South America like some latter day Conquistador although Cuba might have been a shining light had the US not stuck it’s oar in on behalf of organised crime.
I say this because in recent years when the “Celtic Tiger” was on the prowl I remember thinking that the people in Ulster must have been wishing Ireland was united. The death of that beautiful animal, as it was explained to me in some detail, was corruption, the universal disease and a by-product of stupidity, and once again we get the leaders we deserve and these people and their ilk will still be in power if and when Ireland and Scotland have complete independence.
If I may:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/28/ireland-fintan-otoole-book-review
I voted for brexit.
I thought brexit would push the case for a second Scottish independence referendum. I also hoped it would be the catalyst for reunification in Ireland.
All the better if it’s the Conservative and unionist Party that are the cause of the union splitting up.
We question, is it true the nickname “Tory / Tories” was a slang Irish name given to them which meant “Outlaw” back in the day and somehow it just stuck
From Wikipedia Paul;
As a political term, Tory was an insult (derived from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe, modern Irish tóraí, meaning “outlaw”, “robber”, from the Irish word tóir, meaning “pursuit” since outlaws were “pursued men”) that entered English politics during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678–1681.
Lol
Paul,
You voted for something you didn’t want in the hope it would push the case for something you did want and which, if it came to pass, would lead to Scotland applying to rejoin the club you voted to leave?
Or did you vote Brexit because you wanted an independent Scotland also out of the EU?
May I politely ask what other criteria you used to come to a leave vote?
JS
I thought voting for Brexit would split up the UK. The Scottish independence movement have always said they would rejoin Europe if we get independence.
So basically everything you wrote. I thought Brexit would be a shit show, but I was willing to take some pain in the hope we would get a second indy ref.
What I didn’t think would happen was Boris Johnson being prime minister & the Tory government being as incompetent & corrupt as they are.
The Brits would never leave a table of influence especially one as powerful as the EU in order to isolate and impoverish themselves . The EU was failing before Brexit and a few countries were ready to break ranks especially Portugal Italy Greece and Spain known collectively as the PIGS. A warning had to be sent as to the consequences of a go it alone policy . The UK which had long harbored disgruntled Imperialists from a bygone age was the perfect scapegoat . The thirty pieces of silver and the opportunity to profit from the scorched earth policies of a rule free zone were manna from heaven for the duplicitous sociopaths residing in the right wing of Tory Central office. The UK will be back in the EU just as soon as the vast majority are desperate ( not long now) . There will be no more dissent from inside the UK and none of the PIGS will consider leaving after the experience of the Brits. Far fetched ? not in the murky world of politics .
Even the right wing parties in other European countries like France and Italy no longer want to leave the EU.
To come out of the single market you are putting trade barriers on your own country. Its that simple.
Tge financial Times had a story not that long ago that said Brexit was responsible for about 5% of inflation that we are currently experiencing
The ONS also figured that Brexit is causing twice the damage to the UK economy that the pandemic did…
The Republic of Ireland existed under republican arms, a Free State emerged after the betrayal.
Language matters, the Irish in the “wee six” still find it hard to accept this partitionist lingo Phil, whatever way you like to spin it.
And if you listen carefully the”republican” party now speaks of a new Ireland, not a republic.
Hard to credit that anyone would fight for Boris, Sunak, or even Liz Truss. But, unfortunately they’re out there waiting to get tooled up. Regardless of being allied with Nazi regiments from a corrupt country, or not.
Didn’t Maggie also engage the support of the lovely General Pinochet? Torturing and murdering dictator who allegedly had people thrown from helicopters was out to sea.
If Sturgeon had any honest intentions to create an Independent Scotland, then the logical action 3 years ago would have been to recall the Westminster MP’s to Scotland – and unilaterally announce a Referendum.
But, as we know now, she had her other priorities…
All Brexit means for the UK and NI, is increased subservience to the USA.
And just wait until the USA healthcare companies replace the NHS! 😦